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Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Florence

Florence (Italian: Firenze, alternative obsolete form:
Fiorenza; Latin: Florentia) is the capital city of the Italian region of
Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in
Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million
in the metropolitan area.

Florence is famous for its history: a centre of medieval
European trade and finance and one of the wealthiest cities of the time, it is
considered the birthplace of the Renaissance, and has been called "the
Athens of the Middle Ages". A turbulent political history includes periods
of rule by the powerful Medici family, and numerous religious and republican
revolutions. From 1865-71 the city was the capital of the recently established
Kingdom of Italy.

The Historic Centre of Florence attracts millions of
tourists each year, and Euromonitor International ranked the city as the world's
72nd most visited in 2009, with 1.7m visitors. It was declared a World Heritage
Site by UNESCO in 1982. Due to Florence's artistic and architectural heritage,
it has been ranked by Forbes as one of the most beautiful cities in the world,
and the city is noted for its culture, Renaissance art and architecture and
monuments. The city also contains numerous museums and art galleries, such as
the Uffizi Gallery and the Palazzo Pitti, amongst others, and still exerts an
influence in the fields of art, culture and politics.

Florence is an important city in Italian fashion, being
ranked in the top 50 fashion capitals of the world; furthermore, it is a major
national economic centre, as a tourist and industrial hub. In 2008, the city
had the 17th highest average income in Italy.

Main Sight

Florence is known as the "cradle of the
Renaissance" (la culla del Rinascimento) for its monuments, churches and
buildings. The best-known site of Florence is the domed cathedral of the city,
Santa Maria del Fiore, known as The Duomo, whose dome was built by Filippo
Brunelleschi. The nearby Campanile (partly designed by Giotto) and the
Baptistery buildings are also highlights. The dome, 600 years after its
completion, is still the largest dome built in brick and mortar in the world.
In 1982, the historic centre of Florence (Italian: centro storico di Firenze)
was declared a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO. The centre of the city is
contained in medieval walls that were built in the 14th century to defend the
city. At the heart of the city, in Piazza della Signoria, is Bartolomeo
Ammanati's Fountain of Neptune (1563–1565), which is a masterpiece of marble
sculpture at the terminus of a still-functioning Roman aqueduct.

Ponte Vecchio, which spans the Arno river

The layout and structure of Florence in many ways harkens
back to the Roman era, where it was designed as a garrison settlement.
Nevertheless, the majority of the city was built during the Renaissance.
Despite the strong presence of Renaissance architecture within the city, traces
of medieval, Baroque, Neoclassical and modern architecture can be found. The
Palazzo Vecchio as well as the Duomo, or the city's Cathedral, are the two
buildings which dominate Florence's skyline.

Ponte Santa Trinita with the Oltrarno district

The River Arno, which cuts through the old part of the city,
is as much a character in Florentine history as many of the people who lived
there. Historically, the locals have had a love-hate relationship with the Arno
– which alternated between nourishing the city with commerce, and destroying it
by flood.

One of the bridges in particular stands out – the Ponte
Vecchio (Old Bridge), whose most striking feature is the multitude of shops
built upon its edges, held up by stilts. The bridge also carries Vasari's
elevated corridor linking the Uffizi to the Medici residence (Palazzo Pitti).
Although the original bridge was constructed by the Etruscans, the current
bridge was rebuilt in the 14th century. It is the only bridge in the city to
have survived World War II intact. It is the first example in the western world
of a bridge built using segmental arches, that is, arches less than a
semicircle, to reduce both span-to-rise ratio and the numbers of pillars to
allow lesser encumbrance in the riverbed (being in this much more successful
than the Roman Alconétar Bridge).

Ponte Santa Trinita with the Oltrarno district

Palazzo Pitti on Boboli Gardens' side

The church of San Lorenzo contains the Medici Chapel, the
mausoleum of the Medici family—the most powerful family in Florence from the
15th to the 18th century. Nearby is the Uffizi Gallery, one of the finest art
museums in the world – founded on a large bequest from the last member of the
Medici family.

florence cathedral

The Uffizi is located at the corner of Piazza della
Signoria, a site important for being the centre of Florence's civil life and
government for centuries. The Palazzo della Signoria facing it is still home of
the municipal government. The Loggia dei Lanzi provided the setting for all the
public ceremonies of the republican government. Many significant episodes in
the history of art and political changes were staged here, such as:

In 1301, Dante was
sent into exile from here (commemorated by a plaque on one of the walls of the
Uffizi).

On 26 April 1478,
Jacopo de' Pazzi and his retainers tried to raise the city against the Medici
after the plot known as The congiura dei Pazzi (The Pazzi conspiracy),
murdering Giuliano di Piero de' Medici and wounding his brother Lorenzo. All
the members of the plot who could be apprehended were seized by the Florentines
and hanged from the windows of the palace.

In 1497, it was
the location of the Bonfire of the Vanities instigated by the Dominican friar
and preacher Girolamo Savonarola

On 23 May 1498,
the same Savonarola and two followers were hanged and burnt at the stake. (A
round plate in the ground marks the spot where he was hanged)

In 1504,
Michelangelo's David (now replaced by a replica, since the original was moved
in 1873 to the Galleria dell'Accademia) was installed in front of the Palazzo
della Signoria (also known as Palazzo Vecchio).

The Piazza della Signoria is the location of a number of
statues by other sculptors such as Donatello, Giambologna, Ammannati and
Cellini, although some have been replaced with copies to preserve the
originals.

Sculptures in the Loggia dei Lanzi

See also: List of churches in Florence and Theatres in Florence

Florence contains several palaces and buildings from various
eras. The Palazzo Vecchio is the town hall of Florence and also an art museum.
This large Romanesque crenellated fortress-palace overlooks the Piazza della
Signoria with its copy of Michelangelo's David statue as well the gallery of
statues in the adjacent Loggia dei Lanzi. Originally called the Palazzo della
Signoria, after the Signoria of Florence, the ruling body of the Republic of
Florence, it was also given several other names: Palazzo del Popolo, Palazzo
dei Priori, and Palazzo Ducale, in accordance with the varying use of the
palace during its long history. The building acquired its current name when the
Medici duke's residence was moved across the Arno to the Palazzo Pitti. It is
linked to the Uffizi and the Palazzo Pitti through the Corridoio Vasariano.
Palazzo Medici Riccardi, designed by Michelozzo di Bartolomeo for Cosimo il
Vecchio, of the Medici family, is another major edifice, and was built between
1445 and 1460. It was well known for its stone masonry that includes
rustication and ashlar. Today it is the head office of the Florence province
and hosts museums and the Riccardiana Library. The Palazzo Strozzi, an example
of civil architecture with its rusticated stone, inspired by the Palazzo
Medici, but with more harmonious proportions. Today the palace is used for
international expositions like the annual antique show (founded as the Biennale
del'Antiquariato in 1959), fashion shows and other cultural and artistic
events. Here also is the seat of the Istituto Nazionale del Rinascimento and
the noted Gabinetto Vieusseux, with the library and reading room. Aside from
these palaces and buildings, there are several others, including the Palazzo
Rucellai, designed by Leon Battista Alberti between 1446 and 1451 and executed,
at least in part, by Bernardo Rossellino; the Palazzo Davanzati, which houses
the museum of the Old Florentine House; the Palazzo delle Assicurazioni
Generali, designed in the Neo-Renaissance style in 1871; the Palazzo Spini
Feroni, in Piazza Santa Trinita, a historic 13th-century private palace, owned
since the 1920s by shoe-designer Salvatore Ferragamo; as well as various
others, including the Palazzo Borghese, the Palazzo di Bianca Cappello, the
Palazzo Antinori, and the Royal building of Santa Maria Novella.

Palazzo Pitti on Boboli Gardens' side

Florence contains numerous museums and art galleries where
some of the world's most important works of art are held. The city is one of
the best preserved Renaissance centres of art and architecture in the world and
has a high concentration of art, architecture and culture. In the ranking
list of the 15 most visited Italian art museums, 2/3 are represented by
Florentine museums. The Uffizi is one of these; one of the most famous and
important art galleries in the world, it has a very large collection of
international and Florentine art. The gallery is articulated in many halls,
cataloged by schools and chronological order. Engendered by the Medici family's
artistic collections through the centuries, it houses works of art by various
painters and artists. The Vasari Corridor is another gallery, built connecting
the Palazzo Vecchio with the Pitti Palace passing by the Uffizi and over the
Ponte Vecchio. The Galleria dell' Accademia houses a Michelangelo collection,
including the David. It has a collection of Russian icons and works by various
artists and painters. Furthermore, other museums and galleries include the
Bargello, which concentrates on sculpture works by artists including Donatello,
Giambologna and Michelangelo; the Palazzo Pitti, containing part of the Medici
family's former private collection. In addition to the Medici collection, the
palace's galleries contain many Renaissance works, including several by Raphael
and Titian, large collections of costumes, ceremonial carriages, silver,
porcelain and a gallery of modern art dating from the 18th century. Adjoining
the palace are the Boboli Gardens, elaborately landscaped and with numerous sculptures.

Piazzale degli Uffizi

There are several different churches and religious buildings
in Florence. The Cathedral is the Santa Maria del Fiore. The San Giovanni
Baptistery is located in front of the Florence Cathedral, and it is decorated
by numerous artists, notably by Lorenzo Ghiberti with the Gates of Paradise.
Other churches in Florence include the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella, located
in Santa Maria Novella square (near the Firenze Santa Maria Novella railway
station) which contains works by Masaccio, Paolo Uccello, Filippino Lippi and
Domenico Ghirlandaio; the Basilica of Santa Croce, the principal Franciscan
church in the city, which is situated on the Piazza di Santa Croce, about 800
metres south east of the Duomo, and is the burial place of some of the most
illustrious Italians, such as Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli, Foscolo,
Gentile, Rossini, and Marconi, thus it is known also as the Temple of the
Italian Glories (Tempio dell'Itale Glorie); the Basilica of San Lorenzo, which
is one of the largest churches in the city, situated at the centre of
Florence's main market district, and the burial place of all the principal
members of the Medici family from Cosimo il Vecchio to Cosimo III; Santo
Spirito, in the Oltrarno quarter, facing the square with the same name;
Orsanmichele, whose building was constructed on the site of the kitchen garden
of the monastery of San Michele, now demolished; Santissima Annunziata, a Roman
Catholic basilica and the mother church of the Servite order; Ognissanti, which
was founded by the lay order of the Umiliati, and is among the first examples
of Baroque architecture built in the city; the Santa Maria del Carmine, in the
Oltrarno district of Florence, which is the location of the Brancacci Chapel,
housing outstanding Renaissance frescoes by Masaccio and Masolino da Panicale,
later finished by Filippino Lippi; the Medici Chapel, in the San Lorenzo; as
well as several others, including Santa Trinita, San Marco, Santa Felicita,
Badia Fiorentina, San Gaetano, San Miniato al Monte, Florence Charterhouse, and
Santa Maria del Carmine. The city additionally contains the Orthodox Russian
church of Nativity, and the Great Synagogue of Florence, built in the 19th
century.

Additionally, Florence contains various theatres and
cinemas. The Odeon Cinema of the Palazzo dello Strozzino is one of the oldest
movie theatres in the city. Established from 1920 to 1922[26] in a wing of the
Palazzo dello Strozzino, it used to be called the Cinema Teatro Savoia (Savoy
Cinema-Theatre), yet was later called Odeon. The Teatro della Pergola, located
in the centre of the city on the eponymous street, is an opera house built in
the 17th century. Another theatreis the Teatro Comunale (or Teatro del Maggio
Musicale Fiorentino), originally built as the open-air amphitheatre, the
Politeama Fiorentino Vittorio Emanuele, which was inaugurated on 17 May 1862
with a production of Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor and which seated 6,000
people. There are several other theatres, such as the Saloncino Castinelli, the
Teatro Puccini, the Teatro Verdi, the Teatro Goldoni and the Teatro Niccolini.

Squares, streets and parks

Piazza della Repubblica

Aside from such monuments, Florence contains numerous major
squares (piazze) and streets. The Piazza della Repubblica is a square in the
city centre, location of the cultural cafes and bourgeois palaces. Among the
square's cafes (like Caffè Gilli, Paszkowski or the Hard Rock Cafè), the Giubbe
Rosse cafe has long been a meeting place for artists and writers, notably those
of Futurism. The Piazza Santa Croce is another; dominated by the Basilica of
Santa Croce, it is a rectangular square in the centre of the city where the
Calcio Fiorentino is played every year. Furthermore, there is the Piazza Santa
Trinita, a square near the Arno that mark the end of the Via de' Tornabuoni
street. Other squares include the Piazza San Marco, the Piazza Santa Maria
Novella, the Piazza Beccaria and the Piazza della Libertà. The centre
additionally contains several streets. Such include the Via Camillo Cavour, one
of the main roads of the northern area of the historic centre; the Via
Ghibellina, one of central Florence's longest streets; the Via dei Calzaiuoli,
one of most central streets of the historic centre of the which links Piazza
del Duomo to Piazza della Signoria, winding parallel to via Roma and Piazza
della Repubblica; the Via de' Tornabuoni, a luxurious street in the city centre
that goes from Antinori square to ponte Santa Trinita, across Piazza Santa
Trinita, characterised by the presence of fashion boutiques; the Viali di
Circonvallazione, 6-lane boulevards surrounding the northern part of the
historic centre; as well as others, such as Via Roma, Via degli Speziali, Via
de' Cerretani, and the Viale dei Colli.

Florence also contains various parks and gardens. Such
include the Boboli Gardens, the Parco delle Cascine, the Giardino Bardini and
the Giardino dei Semplici, amongst others.

Culture

Florence has a legendary artistic heritage. Cimabue and
Giotto, the fathers of Italian painting, lived in Florence as well as Arnolfo
and Andrea Pisano, renewers of architecture and sculpture; Brunelleschi,
Donatello and Masaccio, forefathers of the Renaissance, Ghiberti and the Della
Robbias, Filippo Lippi and Angelico; Botticelli, Paolo Uccello and the
universal genius of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo.

bottcelli's venus, stored in the Uffizi

Their works, together with those of many other generations
of artists, are gathered in the several museums of the town: the Uffizi
Gallery, the Palatina gallery with the paintings of the "Golden
Ages", the Bargello with the sculptures of the Renaissance, the museum of
San Marco with Fra Angelico's works, the Academy, the chapels of the Medicis
Buonarroti's house with the sculptures of Michelangelo, the following museums:
Bardini, Horne, Stibbert, Romano, Corsini, The Gallery of Modern Art, the Museo
dell'Opera del Duomo, the museum of Silverware and the museum of Precious
Stones. Great monuments are the landmarks of Florentine artistic culture: the
Florence Baptistery with its mosaics; the Cathedral with its sculptures, the
medieval churches with bands of frescoes; public as well as private palaces:
Palazzo Vecchio, Palazzo Pitti, Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Palazzo Davanzati;
monasteries, cloisters, refectories; the "Certosa". In the
archeological museum includes documents of Etruscan civilization. In fact the
city is so rich in art that some first time visitors experience the Stendhal
syndrome as they encounter its art for the first time.

Uffizi hallway

Florentine architects such as Filippo Brunelleschi
(1377–1466) and Leon Battista Alberti (1404–1472) were among the fathers of
both Renaissance and Neoclassical architecture.

The cathedral, topped by Brunelleschi's dome, dominates the
Florentine skyline. The Florentines decided to start building it – late in the
13th century, without a design for the dome. The project proposed by
Brunelleschi in the 14th century was the largest ever built at the time, and
the first major dome built in Europe since the two great domes of Roman times –
the Pantheon in Rome, and Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. The dome of Santa
Maria del Fiore remains the largest brick construction of its kind in the
world.[50][51] In front of it is the medieval Baptistery. The two buildings
incorporate in their decoration the transition from the Middle Ages to the
Renaissance. In recent years, most of the important works of art from the two
buildings – and from the nearby Giotto's Campanile, have been removed and
replaced by copies. The originals are now housed in the Museum dell'Opera del
Duomo, just to the east of the Cathedral.

The Uffizi and the Pitti Palace are two of the most famous
picture galleries in the world. Two superb collections of sculpture are in the
Bargello and the Museum of the Works of the Duomo. They are filled with the
creations of Donatello, Verrochio, Desiderio da Settignano, Michelangelo and
others. The Galleria dell'Accademia has Michelangelo's David – perhaps the most
well-known work of art anywhere, plus the unfinished statues of the slaves
Michelangelo created for the tomb of Pope Julius II. Other sights include the
medieval city hall, the Palazzo della Signoria (also known as the Palazzo
Vecchio), the Archeological Museum, the Museum of the History of Science, the
Palazzo Davanzatti, the Stibbert Museum, St. Marks, the Medici Chapels, the
Museum of the Works of Santa Croce, the Museum of the Cloister of Santa Maria
Novella, the Zoological Museum ("La Specola"), the Bardini, and the
Museo Horne. There is also a collection of works by the modern sculptor, Marino
Marini, in a museum named after him. The Strozzi Palace is the site of special
exhibits.

Cusine

UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre

Florentine food grows out of a tradition of peasant eating
rather than rarefied high cooking. The majority of dishes are based on meat.
The whole animal was traditionally eaten; tripe, (trippa) and (lampredotto)
were once regularly on the menu and still are sold at the food carts stationed
throughout the city. Antipasti include crostini toscani, sliced bread rounds
topped with a chicken liver-based pâté, and sliced meats (mainly prosciutto and
salame, often served with melon when in season). The typically saltless Tuscan
bread, obtained with natural levain frequently features in Florentine courses,
especially in its soups, ribollita and pappa al pomodoro, or in the salad of
bread and fresh vegetables called panzanella that is served in summer. The
bistecca alla fiorentina is a large (the customary size should weigh around
1200 grams – "40 oz.") – the "date" steak – T-bone steak of
Chianina beef cooked over hot charcoal and served very rare with its more
recently derived version, the tagliata, sliced rare beef served on a bed of
arugula, often with slices of Parmesan cheese on top. Most of these courses are
generally served with local olive oil, also a prime product enjoying a
worldwide reputatio.

A display of proboscideans in the Museo di Storia
Naturale di Firenze, or the Natural History Museum of Florence (flornce-museo).

Transportation

The principal public transport network within the city is
run by the ATAF and Li-nea bus company, with tickets available at local
tobacconists, bars and newspaper stalls. Individual tickets, or a pass called
the Carta Agile with multiple rides (10, 21 or 35), may be used on
ATAF&Li-nea buses, Tramvia, and 2nd class local trains but only within city
railway stations. Once on the bus, tickets must be stamped (or swiped for the
Carta Agile) using the machines on board, unlike train tickets which must be
validated before boarding. The main bus station is next to Santa Maria Novella
railway station. Trenitalia runs trains between the railway stations within the
city, and to other destinations around Italy and Europe. The central railway
station, Santa Maria Novella railway station, is located about 500 metres
(1,600 ft) northwest of the Piazza del Duomo. There are two other important
stations: Campo Di Marte and Rifredi. Most bundled routes are Firenze-Pisa,
Firenze-Viareggio and Firenze-Arezzo (along the main line to Rome). Other local
railways connect Florence with Borgo San Lorenzo in the Mugello area (Faentina
railway) and Siena.

Long distance 10 km (6.21 mi) buses are run by the SITA,
Copit, CAP companies. The transit companies also accommodate travellers from
the Amerigo Vespucci Airport, which is five kilometres (3.1 miles) west of the
city centre, and which has scheduled services run by major European carriers
such as Air France and Lufthansa.

The centre of the city is closed to through-traffic,
although buses, taxis and residents with appropriate permits are allowed in.
This area is commonly referred to as the ZTL (Zona Traffico Limitato), which is
divided into five subsections.[citation needed] Residents of one section,
therefore, will only be able to drive in their district and perhaps some
surrounding ones. Cars without permits are allowed to enter after 7.30 pm, or
before 7.30 am. The rules shift during the tourist-filled summers, putting more
restrictions on where one can get in and out.

In an effort to reduce air pollution and car traffic in the
city, a multi-line tram network called Tramvia is under construction. The first
line began operation on 14 February 2010 and connects Florence's primary
intercity railway station (Santa Maria Novella) with the southwestern suburb of
Scandicci. This line is 7.4 km (4.6 mi) long and has 14 stops. The construction
of a second line began on 5 November 2011, construction was stopped due to
contractors' difficulties but should restart in a few months, completion is now
previewed in 2017. This second line will connect Florence's airport with the
city centre. A third line (from Santa Maria Novella to the Careggi area, where
are the most important hospitals of Florence) has gained governmental approval,
its construction will follow the second line's timeline.

Railway station

Firenze Santa Maria Novella railway station is the main
national and international railway station in Florence and is used by 59
million people every year. The building, designed by Giovanni Michelucci, was
built in the Italian Rationalism style and it is one of the major rationalist
buildings in Italy. It is located in Piazza della Stazione, near the Fortezza
da Basso (a masterpiece of the military Renaissance architecture[71]) and the
Viali di Circonvallazione, and in front of the Basilica of Santa Maria
Novella's apse, from which it takes its name.

A new high-speed rail station is under construction and is
contracted to be operational by 2015. It is planned to be connected to Vespucci
airport, Santa Maria Novella railway station, and to the city centre by the
second line of Florence's tram system, Tramvia, which is currently under
construction. The architectural firms Foster + Partners and Lancietti Passaleva
Giordo and Associates designed this new rail station.

Florence Airport

Florence's "Amerigo Vespucci" is one of two main
airports in the Tuscany region, the other being Galileo Galilei International
Airport in Pisa.